


How To Sneeze With Broken Ribs

by ImpossibleClair



Series: Tyzula 'How To' [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (if you squint), Don't copy to another site, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Sharing a Bed, Sickfic, azula is bad at emotions, azula is soft for ty lee and ty lee only, broken ribs, idk they're both gay and stupid and love each other but won't talk about it, not exactly established tyzula?, she's trying though, takes place after 2x08 The Chase, ty lee is a sweetheart who knows this and loves azula, tyzula - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25913383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImpossibleClair/pseuds/ImpossibleClair
Summary: Azula isn't good at being comforting. She tries, really, but come on. It's just a cold. Ty Lee will be fine.Until she's not.And now Azula is going to have to actually properly try, because if anyone deserves that effort from her, it's Ty Lee.(aka I combined my deep love of sickfics and hurt/comfort and now you have soft Tyzula)
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Tyzula 'How To' [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1886527
Comments: 17
Kudos: 206





	How To Sneeze With Broken Ribs

Azula could not abide sick people. Sickness was weakness, and weakness was not to be tolerated. But when Ty Lee slouched out to the campfire one morning, looking exhausted and coughing into her elbow, Azula couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ she asked as the acrobat plopped down on the grass.

Mai shot her a look; maybe her tone could have been a bit gentler. She pushed away the pang of regret.

‘I think I caught a cold from being dunked in the river the other day,’ Ty Lee sighed, her voice nasally. ‘By the Avatar’s big dumb bison.’

‘I told you, you should’ve changed out of your wet clothes when we got back to the tank train,’ Mai drawled.

Ty Lee just shrugged, and wiped her nose on her wrist.

‘Well, if you’re going to eat, I suggest you get to it,’ Azula said. ‘We’re taking the mongoose lizards into the mountains today to see if we can catch up with the Avatar, and I don’t want to waste time.’

Azula stood to go prepare her mount, but she wavered a moment.

‘Ty Lee.’

The other girl looked up at her. Her face was drawn and tired, but she was still smiling; Azula’s heart fluttered.

‘We’ve been informed there are pockets of resistance fighters around here. If you’re not at your best, you should stay behind. I can’t afford to lose you to a mistake.’

She strode away before her heart could start beating any faster.

*

The mongoose lizards made easy work of the tangled mountain terrain. It had taken them less than an hour to pass through the foothills, and now the flexible reptiles were winding their way through the thickening underbrush, huffing and hissing as they bore their riders up the steepening slope.

Azula kept glancing over her shoulder. The other two followed close behind her as she led the way, and although she could hear their lizards crashing through the bushes, she felt the need to reassure herself that they were okay. That Ty Lee was okay.

The acrobat had wolfed down breakfast back at camp, and been the first one saddled up, insisting she felt perfectly fine. ‘Just a sniffle after all,’ she’d said airily as she waved off Mai’s concern. It had seemed, to Azula at least, that she’d shaken off the heavy weariness she’d woken up with and brightened up considerably.

But now, the princess was having doubts. Which she hated, because it meant she might have been wrong.

They’d been riding at a decent pace for several hours, and with each glance, Azula was seeing more signs Ty Lee was tiring. Her posture was failing; her shoulders hunched forward, her hands tangled tight in the reins and her feet were thrust deep in the stirrups to keep her upright. More than once, Azula heard the sound of a muffled sneeze, or a hastily stifled burst of coughing. But she never heard a complaint, and the determined focus in those grey eyes never faltered, so Azula carried on.

They’d just slithered over the lip of a plateau when the earth exploded around them.

A boulder crashed down in front of Azula, barely missing her. Her lizard reared, screeching, and she fought it for control. Dust and shouts billowed all around her, battering her senses. She was blind on all sides, but as she flung herself from the saddle and landed in the dirt, she could feel the unmistakable rumble of earthbending.

She listened carefully, closing her eyes to the swirling grit. Close on her left she could hear the sing and clatter of Mai’s knives. She grinned at the sound of a blade finding its mark. A roar of stone burst behind her, and she threw herself to the side. A jagged line of rock ripped through the ground, piercing the spot where she’d crouched a moment before. She whirled to her feet and jabbed in the direction of its source. A burst of blue flame burned through the dust, and she grinned as she saw the fire impact a figure in Earth Kingdom garb.

Another figure charged out of the swirling dust, taking a stance and preparing to crush her. She twisted, quickly lashing fire at the earthbender. He dodged and threw a clumsy attack in retaliation. She avoided it with ease and fired again, taking him down.

‘Ty Lee! Mai!’ she called. ‘Where are you?’

‘Here!’

The shape of Mai appeared through the maelstrom, sending a round of darts at a pursuer. She backed up to Azula’s shoulder, another knife already between her fingers.

‘Ty Lee!’ Azula shouted again, trying to resist the rise of swirling panic in her stomach.

‘Azula!’

She whipped in the direction of the voice, but the dust was still churning all around them. There was another rumble of grating rock, followed by a sharp, familiar cry of pain.

‘We got one!’ shouted a gruff voice.

The panic in Azula’s stomach turned to boiling rage.

She roared, and lightning split the dust-storm.

*

There was dust in her mouth. That was the first thing Ty Lee was aware of. Her throat felt like sandpaper, and her head was pounding. She had the vague sensation of suffocating, but she was definitely still breathing, and she knew that because it _hurt._

A strangled whimper escaped her as she fought her way back to consciousness. She forced her eyes open, and immediately screwed them shut again as orange light stabbed into her skull. She thought fancifully for a moment that she could feel the heat coming off the light, that it was the reason there was sweat gathered on her forehead.

‘Easy, now,’ came a cool voice through her jumbled thoughts. ‘You’re alright.’

Slower this time, Ty Lee opened her eyes again.

She blinked a few times, and the light settled softly around the room. She was back on the tank train, in a room she didn’t recognise. This wasn’t her cramped-but-comfortable bunk. There was room for a whole bed in here, which she was tucked into, propped up and reclining against a truly staggering number of pillows. Her hair was loose, sticking to the sweat on back of her neck. Beneath the pink sleeping robe she wore, she could feel the press of bandages around her torso.

‘You’re alright,’ came the voice again. She looked to her right.

Azula sat on the edge of the bed. She was dressed for sleep, but her hair was still done up with her ceremonial fire pin. She was watching Ty Lee with a steady – concerned? – gaze.

‘Zula?’ she tried to say, and her dry throat immediately cast her into a coughing fit.

White-hot pain lanced through her chest, and she yelled with what little breath she had. Tears sprang to her eyes and slid down her cheeks as burst after burst of pain accompanied her coughs. She was shaking by the time the fit ended. Tears dripped from her chin, and her breathing was fast and shallow. She leant back against the pillows and sobbed.

‘It’s okay, Lee. Here.’

Azula poured a cup of water from a pitcher on the bedside table, and held it to Ty Lee’s lips. She drank, grateful to wash away the taste of dust and soothe her stinging throat.

‘What happened?’ she croaked when the cup was empty.

‘A small group of earthbenders ambushed us. One of their attacks caught you off guard. You’re badly hurt.’

‘Oh. Are you and Mai okay?’

‘Yes. We handled them. I sent Mai off to the next village to find a healer for you.’

‘Well, that’s good.’

Azula slammed the empty cup on the side table, and Ty Lee flinched, wincing.

‘It’s not “good” at all! Why didn’t you listen to me? You were off your game and it nearly got you killed!’

The outburst was sudden, but Ty Lee was used to this kind of thing from Azula. She knew the princess better than most, and could read concern between the lines of her anger.

‘I just wanted to have your back,’ she murmured. ‘In case you needed me.’

‘I can handle myself perfectly well without you, Ty Lee!’

Hurt flickered across Ty Lee’s face, and the fight went out of Azula’s eyes. She huffed, and the flames in the lanterns flickered a little before stabilising. She leant forward to take Ty Lee’s hands in her own.

‘What I mean is, I can protect myself. I’d rather have you safe and taking care of yourself in times like these because I really _do_ need you, Ty Lee. I can’t stand the thought of losing you.’

Their eyes locked for a few seconds, hot amber and cool grey, both glistening with tears.

Ty Lee squeezed Azula’s hands, and smiled a little.

‘Okay. I’m sorry.’

Azula leant back, calming herself with a deep breath.

‘Me too. I know I’m… harsh, sometimes.’

‘I know it’s just because you care a lot.’

Azula shifted, uncomfortable with the attention.

‘I… yes. Anyway, this isn’t about me now. How are you feeling?’

Ty Lee took a moment to take stock of her current condition. Fever? Definitely. Throat? Scratchy. Head? Aching. Chest? Pain, lots of.

‘I’ve been better,’ she admitted. ‘Are my ribs broken?’

Azula nodded. She leaned forward again, gently pulling open the front of Ty Lee’s robe to reveal thick bandages wrapping her torso from armpit to bellybutton. They both ignored the blush that came to their cheeks.

‘I didn’t see it happen, but it looks like an earthbender managed to hit you very hard and fast on your left side. There’s a lot of bruising, so try not to touch it.’

She said this even as her hand wandered over the bandages, her touch light but still noticeable.

‘I don’t remember it happening.’

‘We think you were knocked out,’ Azula said. ‘You have a bump here.’

She slid her hand into Ty Lee’s hair, her fingers finding a sore lump on the back of her head. Ty Lee winced.

‘Sorry.’

‘It’s okay.’

Azula let her hand slide through Ty Lee’s hair, suddenly very aware of how close their faces were. She could feel Ty Lee’s breath against her lips. Her priorities should have been on not catching whatever the acrobat had, but she couldn’t seem to move away.

‘Azula?’

‘Yes?’

‘I… I think I’m going to sneeze.’

That worked.

Azula drew back sharply, to a distance she hoped was out of range for a sneeze, but she kept a hand on Ty Lee’s leg as the girl threw an arm over her face and sneezed loudly.

If she thought the coughing was bad, this was a thousand times worse. Needles of sharp agony pierced through her left side, leaving spots dancing in her vision. It faded quickly, but the shock of it left her breathless. She moaned weakly.

‘Oh, shit,’ Azula muttered. ‘Shit, right, that must have been… That looked like it hurt.’

Ty Lee threw her a pathetic look. Then her face screwed up and she whined.

‘Ughh there’s another one coming!’

‘Um, uhhh, _here!_ ’

Azula snatched up a pillow and pressed it against Ty Lee’s chest. The other girl was so startled that she dropped her arm, and Azula didn’t have time to retreat before the sneeze caught her full in the face.

The princess blinked, stunned.

Ty Lee looked mortified.

‘Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Azula!’

Azula sat back, keeping her lips pressed tightly together as she wiped her sleeve over her face. She should be angry. She should be _furious_. But aside from a flicker of annoyance that she’d probably have to take a day off when she inevitably came down with this cold, she felt reasonably calm.

She sighed.

‘At least tell me the pillow helped.’

Ty Lee brightened.

‘It did! It still hurt a lot, but not as much as before.’

‘Good.’

Silence stretched between them.

Azula stayed perched on the edge of the bed, staring down at her hands, now folded in her lap. Eventually Ty Lee yawned, and Azula stirred herself from her thoughts.

‘You should try to get some sleep,’ she said. ‘I don’t know when Mai will be back, and it’s already late.’

‘What about you?’ Ty Lee asked, settling more comfortably against her throne of cushions.

‘Well, you’re in my bed, so…’

Ty Lee looked startled.

‘Oh. Well, um.’ She coughed, clutching the pillow against her chest as she did. ‘Thanks. For letting me use your bed.’

Azula shrugged, avoiding meeting her eyes.

‘I had to make sure you were comfortable. It was the logical option.’

Ty Lee smiled warmly at Azula, who’s stony expression softened at the sight.

‘Get some rest,’ she said softly.

She stood to leave, and Ty Lee felt her heart jolt. She shot out a hand, managing to grasp the sleeve of Azula’s robe.

‘What?’ Azula’s voice was quieter than she expected.

Ty Lee’s grip slackened.

‘I… I just thought, well, I still feel pretty bad… and it’s a big bed…’

Azula tried to glare. She _wanted_ to glare. Didn’t she? It didn’t matter. Those huge eyes looked up at her, and she melted. She couldn’t have refused even if the fate of the whole Fire Nation depended on it.

And besides, she thought, as she extinguished the lamps with a wave of her hand and slid under the blankets, she’d already been sneezed on. Spending a bit more time in close proximity to Ty Lee would do little to change her chances of getting sick now.

She (carefully) stole a pillow from the pile behind Ty Lee, and settled down, her head level with Ty Lee’s waist.

‘Just so you know,’ she mumbled. ‘I’m only doing this so I can keep an eye on you.’

There was a soft sound, something she imagined might have been a laugh if broken ribs weren’t involved. When she spoke, Azula could hear the smirk in Ty Lee’s voice.

‘Of course, princess. Why would I think anything else?’

Azula hummed contentedly. She nuzzled into the curve of Ty Lee’s waist, laying an arm across her lap. She felt Ty Lee twine one of her hands with Azula’s. The other went to her hair, deftly removing the flame hairpin that marked her as royalty, letting the dark strands tumble free. She closed her eyes.

‘Goodnight, Zula.’

‘Goodnight, sweetheart.’

**Author's Note:**

> Yes Azula lets Ty Lee call her 'Zula.' No, nobody else has survived attempting such a thing.  
> Also, yes, I did google 'how to sneeze with broken ribs' and the answer was 'hold a pillow against your chest.' And now you have a fic.  
> I need more soft Tyzula and if I cannot find it I will create it. Enjoy!


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